Race to the Top now gets tougher

Posted: August 27, 2010 - 12:03am

St. Johns County joined 64 other Florida school districts, the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind, other special schools and 54 teachers unions to help Florida secure a $700 million Race to the Top federal education grant.

The announcement Tuesday put Florida, on its second try, among 11 states and the District of Columbia to share $4.35 billion in this unprecedented federal initiative. Federal officials say 13.6 million students and 980,000 teachers in 25,000 schools nationwide will be affected.

The goals are to improve academic achievement for under-achieving students, increase the number of college-bound and workforce-ready students, upgrade the nation's lowest performing schools and provide a pay-for-performance teacher evaluation plan.

Florida's goals in line with the federal goals are to cut the achievement gap between high-achieving and low-performing students in half by 2015, double the percentage of incoming freshmen who will graduate and go on to college, and elevate teacher performance while tying evaluations and pay raises to student achievement. The state's plan also will offer teachers incentives to work in low-performing schools and difficult teaching situations.

While the teacher performance part may be compared to the ill-fated education reform in Senate Bill 6, the major difference is that SB 6, if it became law, would have been an unfunded mandate. Participation in Race to the Top is voluntary for a district and there is grant funding available.

But as good as that $700 million looks, St. Johns County school officials have said the implementation could be expensive because of the costs associated with development of end-of-the-year course exams and the teacher performance pay plan. Officials don't know what the costs will be yet.

As of Wednesday, St. Johns County's share of Race to the Top funds would be $1,174,253 over four years. That's not a lot of money. But any money that will help improve academic performance should be welcomed. Unless, of course, its costs outweigh the grant.

The School District has seven weeks from Wednesday to get its application to the state. During that time, there will be extensive work on a proposal in conjunction with the teachers union, St. Johns Education Association and the School Board.

The School Board committed itself in May to go forward, but it has to be sure first that it can afford Race to the Top. That's fair enough. This district has seen drastic budget cuts but has still maintained the state's top district rating for two consecutive years.

Florida won the race to the grant. We are encouraged by the state's goals and the opportunities presented.

We are cautioned by Wayne Blanton, head of the Florida Association of District School Superintendents. Blanton said in an Associated Press story on Tuesday that Florida already spends $20 million annually on kindergarten through 12th grade programs.

"It will have a small economic effect and a huge policy effect,'' he said.

Indeed it will.

Our local effort will require cooperation and collaboration at every step among the School Board, the district and St. Johns Education Association. That figures. Race to The Top is about student achievement. That depends on what students are taught by their teachers.